Around the World in Sandwiches: A Top 5 List

by Raphael Kadushin

on 10/31/08 at 05:57 PM

Now that the dollar has rebounded (20-25% stronger against the euro and pound, depending on the day) the only good news coming out of our seismic crash is the fact that some vacations, even international ones, may be vaguely thinkable. What makes them more thinkable is a recession-proof global food group like the sandwich. Sandwiches have been on my mind a lot lately. A piece on my life in sandwiches for nationalgeographicfood.com meant a nostalgic trip through a childhood filled with falafel and brats (a disturbing combination). Nowadays, we tend to eat Halloween candy before the doorbell rings so some cranky kids last year ended up with provolone sandwiches, which I like to think (the kids didn't) was an interestingly urbane alternative.

But for travelers, in particular, sandwiches are often the most authentic local food because they change shape easily, and embody each culture's own culinary traditions. And they're the one all-purpose meal in a hand that will always be relatively cheap. Everyone will have their own list of best homegrown sandwiches and the places that do justice to them (is Johnny's Po-Boys really the place to go in New Orleans? Where do you get the definitive New England lobster roll, because I've never had one that tasted as good as they sound, and the ultimate Chicago hot dog?). My global list of best sandwich kitchens, the ones that really do right by their local signature sandwich, includes the following:

1) In New York, I like the Stage Deli.This dicey choice will probably elicit howls of protest from native New Yorkers because the Stage is filled with tourists and its celebrity sandwiches read like kitsch party jokes (and personal insults; the gluttonous Aretha Franklin sandwich features pastrami and turkey and then, because that apparently wasn't considered enough, roast beef and swiss cheese).

But tourists aren't village idiots (we're all tourists somewhere) and the Stage pastrami sandwich is a classic. Which means you're not chewing, and chewing, on that leathery mauve flap of faux pastrami but its antidote, delicately perfumed,freshly sliced meat laced with fat. If you don't want to look like a tourist, though, the more politic choice isBarney Greengrass,where the sturgeon and Nova salmon sandwich offers maybe the perfect New York, or at least Upper West Side, bite.

2) The Dutch make the best sandwiches, because they have perfected a crusty white farmer's bread that is dense and soft at the same time, they know that lots of mayo makes any sandwich good, and they sustain a genuine cafe society. Plus there is all that golden cheese, the wheels of Edam and Gouda that sprawl across the tables of Dutch master paintings. Even given all the competition, though, Cafe Walem, which sits on a central Amsterdam canal, is my favorite lunch stop and its best sandwich features sheets of tender beef carpaccio draped across a thick slice of bread, in a bed of creamy mayo, and topped by a spray of toasted pumpkin seeds.

3) I've written a lot about Denmark's smorrebrod sandwiches but Sweden offers its own artful rendition of the open-face sandwich, and Stockholm's 19th-century food hall Ostermalms Saluhall features lots of vendors and a lesson in soulful Nordic cuisine. The real draws are the seafood stalls that usually serve a variation of the classic Swedish hoagie, which comes stacked with an explosion of small, sweet, very pink Baltic shrimp (pictured).

4) Vienna's Zum Schwarzen Kameel or The Black Camel, has been open since 1618 and Beethoven supposedly camped out here (but then every restaurant in Vienna claims Beethoven). There is a formal Black Camel restaurant but the real attraction is the combination cafe and bar where one long counter displays open-faced sandwiches spread with different toppings: egg salad, ham salad, spinach, caviar. The buttercup yellow egg salad is the eggy essence of egg salad and watching the Viennese matrons in their big operatic furs downing those dainty sandwiches is like watching brown bears scooping up lake fish. Plus the cafe's logo of a black camel wearing a plumed headdress, looking as poised as a horsey Vegas showgirl, is oddly elegant.

5) L'As du Falafel, a doll-sized cafe and mostly take-out place, sits in the Marais district of Paris, on the Rue des Rosiers, where you can still see yeshiva boys running to class. What a lot of them have in their hand is the same thing every tourist is holding, and dripping all over the Rue des Rosiers, which must be coated in tahini and hummus. That's the eponymous sandwich from L'As de Falafel. What makes this version so good is the fresh falafel (it has to be because each ball is spoken for the minute it hits the pita), which locates the right balance between feathery and sturdy. But the grilled eggplant that gets plopped in the pita alongside the falafel adds its own depth of flavor.

Chicago's best hot dogs are at The Wiener Circle in the Loop, and Hot Doug's (where tasty vegetarian varieties are also a possibility).

beccahensley
06:00:48 PM on
11/04/08

Ah yes--I love the architectural nibbles of Copenhagen--it only figures that a city famous for its design would snack on a structural marvel like the ubiquitous and multi-faceted smorrebrod. I love the contemporary versions (called smushi) it at the Royal Café.

steezbox
12:52:49 PM on
11/03/08

Pastrami in NYC? What about Montreal's Schwartz's. Theres always a huge line-up but daaaaaaamn is it good!!!!!

(Okay, I live here, so I'm a little biased, but Hale Berry and Jerry Seinfeld love it too)

RaphaelKadushin
11:48:07 AM on
11/03/08

I should have done a top ten list. Mhundley and leighana are right; Spain has some of Europe's best sandwiches, and a lot of tapas are a version of a sandwich (reason I didn't include them was because I had recently written a post on Seville's tapas). Maybe the classic Spanish sandwich: dense brown bread rubbed with olive oil and sweet tomato that is perfected in Palma.

mhundley
10:25:24 AM on
11/03/08

When I studied in Spain for a semester, my Spanish mom would send us on field trips provisioned with a bocadillo de tortilla--a Spanish tortilla sandwich--potatoes, onions, and egg on a crusty white loaf of bread. It still rates as one of the best things I have eaten in my life.

leighana
01:55:52 PM on
11/02/08

While attending high school for a year in Vigo, Spain, my favorite snack was a sandwich from a local cold-cuts (fiambres) shop -- though I'll admit it was my favorite only because it was every student's favorite. The cheapest was mortadella on a crusty roll, though for a splurge we'd go across the street for a tuna sandwich on a soft roll -- the tuna was soaked in flavorful olive oil, by far better than the water-packed variety typical here in the States. As a humorous/morbid aside, "fiambre" is also a slang term for a cadaver in castillian.

joliecanard
07:25:59 PM on
11/01/08

I think you should change the title to "Around Europe in Sandwiches." Not even a venture to Eastern Europe or South America? That's a small world...

katitamichelle
07:21:52 PM on
11/01/08

I would also post Geneva`s, Switzerland, remarkable kebab stands all over the city. They are the best food and they are fast, cheap and available almost 24hrs(at least until the last time i was there). Made by traditional lebanese experts, the meat is perfectly cooked and the best for me is to mix lamb with falafel topped with labhne and all those tomatoes and tahini.... TOO GOOD!

mangamange
12:16:49 PM on
11/01/08

I've been living in Philly for 6 years and everyone asks me about the cheesesteaks. I've never had one! My favorite sandwich is a cornedbeef sandwich made by a Korean grocer in Center City; it is my favorite comfort food.

jr53211
12:06:37 PM on
11/01/08

I've had that memorable falafel at L'As de Falafel in the Marais and the charming street it's on is just as memorable.

But the sandwich that has always stuck in my mind is a Maine lobster roll. Don't know if the tiny lobster shacks along the side of the road are there anymore, probably not, but you could get a sandwich overflowing w/ the freshest lobster on a white bread roll for about $2. TWO LOUSY BUCKS. I can still see that sandwich.

Gretchenmay
11:17:13 AM on
11/01/08

I know that open-faced shrimp sandwich well after living in Sweden last year. When in Stockholm, I'd also recommend Hertigs cafe for sandwiches.

ggblueyes
10:50:19 AM on
11/01/08

I'm a native New Yorker and Kadushin is my food man on the street. Every time we travel, we go to his culinary favorites. We are never disappointed! The guy's an epicurean maverick; what would we do without him?

I don't mean to offend anyone, but if I'm paying for food, the last thing I want is a sandwich.

spyturtle
11:37:19 PM on
10/31/08

Tokyo is full of small bakeries inspired by the French. They offer their version of the Japanese sandwich on great croissants and bread shaped in 8" square cubes. My favorite is the yakisoba or noodle sandwich. My daughter calls it double starch! They have a big variety of sandwiches and they are really wonderful moderately priced tasty fresh food.

alistairmc
08:44:25 PM on
10/31/08

Wow! I have not read such a delightful or insightful essay on the poetics of the sandwich as this one! Quite brilliant. When travelling, sandwiches are really the thing to go for, and always the best value. The images of the marais yeshiva boys with the falafel was splendid. My mouth is watering! I know the walem in amsterdam, but haven't tried the beef carpaccio, I must next time I return.